Russ Feingold: “the Fair Credit Reporting Act was designed to make sure that personal financial information about consumers is fairly…”

“the Fair Credit Reporting Act was designed to make sure that personal financial information about consumers is fairly maintained and accurately reported by credit agencies and provided only to the appropriate people. Maintaining the privacy of the consumer is one of the central objectives of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. My amendment will ensure that the Federal Government is not overstepping its role in obtaining and using this highly personal information. My amendment will require all Federal agencies to report to Congress on the practice of datamining but it would not impose any limits on the use of datamining. This amendment will provide the American people with critical information about the use of datamining technology and the way highly personal information, such as credit reports and other financial information, is obtained and used by our Government. The untested and controversial intelligence procedure known as datamining is capable of maintaining extensive files containing both public and private records on each and every American. Periodically, after millions of dollars have been spent, we learn about a new datamining program under development. Congress and the public should not be learning the details about these programs only after millions of dollars are spent testing and using datamining against unsuspecting Americans.”